Past Featured Articles

Recently I saw an old video of Gaston Rebuffat
on the Matterhorn with another climber. It was beautiful. They seemed to turn
the climb into a real gentlemen’s affair. Lots of relaxed walking, each
climber holding a coil of rope. When it was steep, they dropped the coils and
executed a standing hip belay. All very graceful, and then the look of
satisfaction from the pipe-smoke at the top made me want to take up the filthy
habit. These men clearly had “mountain sense.” They looked at peace with
themselves, and were very much at ease. Plainly, they had long ago forged a
kinship with steep terrain that was now such a part of them that it simply was
them, or at least such a great part of their identity that they couldn’t shuck
it off.

Despite our safer technology today, it’s not so easy to attain the true
mastery that these older men of the mountains had. Many of us are master
technicians, able to climb the steepest terrain imaginable, so long as it’s
well protected. I remember my first ventures onto that fearsome terrain:
“3rd-4th class,” as we’d say in the U.S., or maybe in the german-speaking
countries it would be UIAA II-III. Having already led some 5th class pitches
outside, I didn’t understand why I was qualing in fear on the ocean of loose,
dirty, mossy, ugly mountainside that I’d climbed into from below. “There is
no way to protect anything,” I complained to myself. “I hate this
stuff.”

You left the car at dawn, but that was 5,000 vertical feet and many
hours ago. Now you're on the summit, still mildly euphoric from the exposed
scrambling you just did. The views and the weather are great, but you realize
your early start has left you feeling a tad sleepy. And the warm sunshine sure
feels good...

Many
will recall watching the news about the three climbers who died on Mount Hood
last December. The story was in the headlines for weeks as search and rescue
teams tried to locate the three climbers, often hampered by severe weather
conditions. However, many do not know that it almost happened again when three
more climbers and their dog went missing on Mt. Hood on February 18, 2007. It
was a shock that after three climbers died in the middle of December, there was
another rescue mission on the same mountain only two months later. Three members
of the climbing party disappeared over an icy ledge and slid down some 500 feet
before coming to a stop, while the other members of the group called for help.
The three fallen climbers were able to build a snow cave to keep warm during the
snow storm while the Portland Mountain Rescue team came to their aid. All
climbers, and their dog, were brought down the mountain safely with only minor
injuries.
Bill OReilly, the host of The OReilly Factor on the Fox News Channel, has been
an outspoken opponent of mountain rescues. On his show, he said, There was no
reason for people to be trying to climb that mountain other than thrill seeking.
Rescuers put themselves in danger and the taxpayers have to pay for it.2 OReilly
is trying to use the recent events on Mt. Hood to restrict climbing to certain
periods and seasons. Rather than presenting possible solutions to this problem,
OReilly does not understand what draws climbers to these mountains and the
actual costs of climbing related rescues. OReillys argument is unpersuasive due
to his false assumptions about climbing in general, and his biased and
incomplete data about mountain rescues.

Recently I have had several questions
on how to make an animated gif. Animated gifs, whether to ‘spice’ up a user
profile or to put together a sequence of back-to-back action shots, can add a
nice touch to any project. In this article I hope to answer some questions about
how animated gifs are made, what software to use and what SummitPost will
accept.

Does a road to a summit cheapen the
summit experience? Given that mountaintops are a natural place to install
communications towers and the like, its no surprise that many peaks have roads
that lead to the summit. On one extreme, you could drive the entire route and
then lay claim to a successful summit visit. I dont think any climber or hiker
would accept this as a proper way to climb a mountain, but nevertheless, there
are other points to consider, and I welcome input and dialogue on the subject.

It seems like there's a lot of
people out there who'd really like to rock climb, but don't know where to start.
This article seeks to provide a roadmap through the learning process. This
article won't teach you how to climb... that's up to you, but it will get you
pointed in the right directions.
There's lots of ways to learn to rock climb. This is a generic approach I
compiled from guiding and teaching friends to climb. It's methodical and direct
and should safely lead you towards self-sufficiency and competence in the
vertical world.
Some terms may be unfamiliar. Don't worry, it'll make sense in time. In the
beginning everything seems unfamiliar, intimidating, and unforgiving. That's
normal, imagine your first computer...

I thought I'd write down my thoughts about
alpine rock climbing. Mostly, this means climbing traditionally protected rock
routes in an alpine setting, likely involving crossing glaciers or hiking a long
distance. The routes will have loose sections that would disgust a sport
climber. But for the alpine climber, it's all about accepting the mountain on
it's own terms: you saw it from a distance, thought it beautiful, and now want
to climb it. With this attitude of acceptance you will find great joy as you
weave your story with the mountain.
These little notes aren't in any particular order. In my mind they are all
equally important. Some are safety tips or basic common sense you've heard
before or could guess. Any wisdom I've got comes in keeping them near to hand,
where experience guides me on the next step.

First, I want to state that I am an
amateur with the use of Google Earth and working with GPS files in general. This
article is summarizing what I have learnt over the last couple months while
trying to find a better way to manage and share my GPS file. I am hoping to get
feedback on this article, which I will incorporate in this article in an attempt
to become all encompassing on the topic.

From Wikipedia: "In computer graphics and photography, high dynamic range
imaging (HDRI) is a set of techniques that allow a far greater dynamic range of
exposures (i.e. a large difference between light and dark areas) than normal
digital imaging techniques. The intention of HDRI is to accurately represent the
wide range of intensity levels found in real scenes ranging from direct sunlight
to the deepest shadows."

HTML is short for HyperText
Markup Language and is the predominant language used for the creation of web
pages. Put most simply, HTML tells your browser how to display information
(text, pictures, etc) on your computer screen.
When Josh and Ryle originally set up SummitPost for us mountaineering types to
use, part of their job was to provide most of the “background” HTML (or
framework) needed to make members’ pages display properly. Their superb design
offers members with no knowledge of HTML the ability to design excellent pages.
At the same time it allows those who wish to use HTML to gain precise control
over how their pages look on the screen. As time passes more and more of
SummitPost's members come to truly appreciate the extremely elegant design of
this world-class web site.